The Toronto Blue Jays take aim at America’s pastime as Canada-U.S. relations remain broken

TORONTO — Canada’s only major league team will have an entire country behind it during the World Series and has a chance of claiming the championship of America’s pastime at a time when U.S.-Canada relations remain near historic lows.

The Toronto Blue Jays host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night in Toronto after defeating the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series.

The once-in-a-generation MLB playoff run comes as Canadians are feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal after U.S. President Donald Trump has talked about making the country the 51st state.

“Nobody wants to be the 51st state. We’re going to show America that we’re going to beat them at their favorite pastime,” said Geoffrey Fulton, a 54-year fan who has been sporting a Maple Leaf bandana at games.

“It’s especially the year where we want to go all the way and win the championship. It would just be great for our country.”

Tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies have eased slightly in recent months as Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to get a trade deal, but American tariffs are taking a toll. One of the world’s most durable and amicable alliances — born of geography, heritage and centuries of common interests — remains broken.

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Many Canadians have been boycotting the U.S. since the Trump administration started threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty with tariffs and heated political rhetoric, most offensively of all by claiming Canada could be “the 51st state.”

But Fulton went to New York to cheer on his Blue Jays as they eliminated the Yankees in the prior playoff round. Yankees fans booed the Canadian national anthem, and Fulton had his Blue Jays wig lifted off his head and stolen at Yankee Stadium.

“Canada needs to be together, so to have the Blue Jays go all the way and win the World Series would just be fantastic,” Fulton said.

Unlike Canada’s pastime of hockey, where there are several Canadian teams, there is only one in baseball’s major leagues for Canada’s 41 million people to cheer.

At an NHL game in Calgary, Alberta — more than 2,000 miles west of Toronto — the Calgary Flames public address announcer updated the crowd with George’s Springer’s go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning over Seattle to raucous cheers.

In Toronto, 28-year-old Braeden McNeil was fighting back tears after attending the Blue Jays game with his brother.

“It’s extra special. They can say what they want, 51st state. We are our own country” McNeil said. “We’re going to the World Series. It doesn’t matter if we’re the underdogs. It doesn’t matter what Americans say.”

Toronto manager John Schneider, an American born in New Jersey, said he feels more Canadian than American now.

“It’s such a fulfilling job because you have an entire country hanging on every pitch. I feel it, too. I feel like I’m more Canadian. I love drinking beer, I like drinking Tim Horton’s. I’m one of them,” Schneider said. “To have every one from coast to coast be part of this is something that is truly, truly special.”

“So happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country,” added Springer, who is from Connecticut but is in his fifth season with the Jays.

The Blue Jays last appeared in the World Series in 1993 and in 1992 when they won back-to-back championships. In 1992, the U.S. Marine Corps displayed the Canadian flag upside-down at Game 2 in Atlanta, but political tensions were not an issue then.

Canadians have not been booing the American national anthem at sporting events in recent months as they did earlier in year at hockey and basketball games when Trump first threatened Canada.

When Canada defeated the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament in February, it turned into a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy. The mood is as not as intense now.

When Carney was in the Oval Office this month Trump was asked about a 23% decline in cross border visits to the U.S.

“The people of Canada, they will love us again,” Trump predicted.

“It’s not bad. They’ll come back,” Carney told Trump.

Carney then took the opportunity to brag about the Blue Jays.

“We’re coming down for the World Series Mr. President,” Carney said.

“By the way they are looking pretty good,” Trump said of the Blue Jays.

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Rob Gillies, The Associated Press